Les Siècles - Music by Reich and J.S. Bach for Flute
Marion Ralincourt took an interesting page from her own experiences from flute study to put the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (on a wooden “transverse” flute) and Steve Reich (on modern, metallic, keyed flutes) together on one album. I can’t say the juxtaposition will work for all, but as a fan of both composers, this worked for me.
Ralincourt’s program starts with two bonafide flute pieces: Bach’s solo partita and Reich’s Vermont Counterpoint. These pieces open and close the album. She then adds to the program two Bach arrangements: BWV 590 and 997; for Reich, she adds my favorite Nagoya Marimbas and Music for pieces of wood, wherein she uses the sound of the flute keys as her percussive instruments.
Her playing of Bach is confident; she has a great tone on the transverse flute and her breathing skills are amazing. She takes longer breaths, as a rule, and there are some phrases that impress you that she hasn’t passed out. Bach was not a forgiving writer for flute music; some question whether the sonata performed here was actually originally for flute? But as it is, almost every professional flutist takes on this work and tries and overcomes its challenges. I think the result here is outstanding. There’s dance in her body in movements like the partita’s bourée; the sarabande from the same piece uses a touch of vibrato on long notes, which is sublimely beautiful; while I can’t speak to its authenticity with regards to flute playing in the baroque period, such an effect was common with violinists, and I think the way it’s applied here makes a lot of sense.
Her performance of the Nagoya Marimbas at first is jarring when we hear a modern flute; her sound is darker rounder, and harder, with the buzz of sound from the flute’s lower register. This piece I think works so well on marimbas and the challenge here is one of consistent articulation. She meets this challenge, while at the same time giving some phrases more length on certain notes, which speaks to the character of the flute. It makes something different of the piece but in a good way. We certainly felt these gestures before but on an instrument that can vary the length of notes, it’s simply a matter of allowing the flute to do what we can hear ourselves with the catchy permutations of the theme as they evolve.
The Bach lute suite and organ piece are well done, again on the wooden flute without keys. Even as these are arrangements, Bach’s writing doesn’t allow for easy places to take breaths. I think she does well despite this limitation.
It’s precision that’s required more, I think, in Vermont Counterpoint, among the pieces recorded here. Ralincourt matches the requirement without any reservation! The recording made by Ransom Wilson in the early 1980s has none of the clarity in this recording; it’s hard to tell if it’s the recording technology at the time, but a few minutes in to Wilson’s recording makes us wonder if we are listening to flutes anymore. This recording recreates each of the many lines with requisite clarity and transparency. The recording from 2013 by Claire Chase is likely the one closest in strength to this one; Chase’s more consistent articulation is extremely pleasing to the senses if you like to listen to this piece with your eyes closed as this music of patterns evolves like reflections off water; Ralincourt’s performance varies the articulation in the different lines for a different effect; her performance is more tactile and dynamically interesting. Both are good, the performance by Ralincourt makes it easier to distinguish the different lines.
I give credit to Ralincourt for performing on different instruments to match the historical soundworlds of Bach and Reich. The pieces together like this showcase this musician’s gifts, which I might say are exemplified here with technical command, a sensitive, human interpretive wisdom, and a fearless resolve to make arrangements work for her instrument. I think the percussive number by Reich is the most transformed by moving to flute, it won’t be for everyone, as maybe the piece isn’t for everyone, but I had to admire the different timbres she pushed out of her instrument. I can only imagine that had to be difficult to record.
Kudos. Very enjoyable find on the nomadmusic label.
